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In 'depth' *cough* Blake's 7 discussions one minute and computer games the next, with late night location visits, the odd drink, and an occasional guest appearance of a certain Supreme Commander, and her 'sidekicks'

In 'depth' *cough* Blake's 7 discussions one minute and computer games the next, with late night location visits, the odd drink, and an occasional guest appearance of a certain Supreme Commander, and her 'sidekicks' :P

We should probably be setting a good example here and not wandering quite so far off-topic, but he he he... trying to navigate to the Headhunter bridge in the dark was... interesting! ;)

First, I'd like to thank SD for posting a link to what exactly a shipper was. I had no idea of the term in regards to fandom. Secondly, especially in the lean years of Blake's 7 when we had only our Horizon zines, the Trevor Hower novelizations and Tony Attwood's Afterlife and Programme Guide... we had to entertain ourselves and often we would write fan fiction not for general consumption. I'm guilty as many of us were so...

In many of Brad's or my stories in the olden days... we often paired characters up with one another to see what would happen. The main pairings we usually devised were of course, Blake and Jenna- Avon and Cally- Tarrant and Dayna- Soolin and Vila- Soolin and Avon- Servalan and Avon- Servalan and Tarrant- Servalan and Jarvik- Tarrant and Piri (Cancer)- Tarrant and Zeeona- Vila and Kerrill- and two of Brad's creations Grant and Jenna- and Grant and Kerrill.

I happen to live in the reality where Grant and Jenna formed a relationship after she left Liberator. The pair seem to have mutual affinities- a smuggling/freetrading/pilot with a mercenary/freedom fighter/general pain in the bottom soldier. A match made in heaven. The other 'shipping' either worked or did not, but the Grant-Jenna pairing worked the best. Thanks Brad. I treasure your Grant-Jenna PGP stories with Avon, Vila and Orac too. -Paula

First, I'd like to thank SD for posting a link to what exactly a shipper was. I had no idea of the term in regards to fandom. Secondly, especially in the lean years of Blake's 7 when we had only our Horizon zines, the Trevor Hower novelizations and Tony Attwood's Afterlife and Programme Guide... we had to entertain ourselves and often we would write fan fiction not for general consumption. I'm guilty as many of us were so...

In many of Brad's or my stories in the olden days... we often paired characters up with one another to see what would happen. The main pairings we usually devised were of course, Blake and Jenna- Avon and Cally- Tarrant and Dayna- Soolin and Vila- Soolin and Avon- Servalan and Avon- Servalan and Tarrant- Servalan and Jarvik- Tarrant and Piri (Cancer)- Tarrant and Zeeona- Vila and Kerrill- and two of Brad's creations Grant and Jenna- and Grant and Kerrill.

I happen to live in the reality where Grant and Jenna formed a relationship after she left Liberator. The pair seem to have mutual affinities- a smuggling/freetrading/pilot with a mercenary/freedom fighter/general pain in the bottom soldier. A match made in heaven. The other 'shipping' either worked or did not, but the Grant-Jenna pairing worked the best. Thanks Brad. I treasure your Grant-Jenna PGP stories with Avon, Vila and Orac too. -Paula

Wannna read them! Can you post a link pretty please?

"If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question."

True, although the term only really applies to artwork and fanfic rather than comment and discussion.

But, according to the Wikipedia there seem to be places where this happens?

Shipping is an abbreviation of Relationshipping - not an actual word, just made up by fandom - which means creating your own stories through artwork or by writing fanfic which place characters from the show in romances with each other, outside of what happened in the series. Speculating about on screen events is just that - speculation. Shipping means actually going as far as creating the romance for the characters yourself, not just talking or thinking about it, and getting it down on paper or publishing it online. If the characters do get together on screen, then stories written after the fact are no longer shipping as its generally meant; they are just fanfic. The term in the glossary I linked to called a 'sailed ship' - meaning the characters 'coming together' has been and gone - covers writing about romances that have happened already on screen, and I included my writing about a married Amy and Rory (Dr Who) in that catagory.

I have to disagree that shipping has to be more concrete than just discussion, or even interest. The Wiki page you linked to even says this: "Shipping, derived from the word relationship or worship, is the belief that two people, usually fictional, would be interesting or believable (or are, or will be, or should be) in a romantic relationship. It is considered a general term for fans' emotional involvement with the ongoing development of romance in a work of fiction."

I suppose I'm a shipper in the sense that I always enjoy a story that highlights the bromance between Avon and Vila, when we see their mutual affinities come to the fore and they get involved in some caper.

I suppose I'm a shipper in the sense that I always enjoy a story that highlights the bromance between Avon and Vila, when we see their mutual affinities come to the fore and they get involved in some caper.

I like the non-canon version of Avon and Vila as snipy best budds. Especially when Vila gets to show how much more intelligence and nouce Avon expects him to have.

We really needed a fourth choice in the poll though for friendship fics.

True, although the term only really applies to artwork and fanfic rather than comment and discussion.

Not altogether sure I would agree with the above, tbh. In a B7 context there might be a case to be made for shipping Avon/Cally, for instance, based on just the Children/Rumours/Sarcophagus "trilogy". I am a diehard shipper in many fandoms and for me, personally, much of the joy comes from speculating as far as I can without actually breaking canon, and that can be quite a long way! Of course, the "no, there was never anything between characters A & B" discussions are just as valid but I think when a ship is born from canonical evidence (be it only a look, an accidental touch or whatever) then I think it's perfectly valid to take it into the region of comment and discussion - as long as no-one tries to present it as indisputable fact.

Not sure the above says what I really meant it to, but though I understand why some people have no interest in exploring such things, I think where there is clearly something to kick the idea off in the mind more than one fan/viewer/whatever, then a potential ship becomes as valid for serious comment and discussion as anything else in the fandom's universe.

Still can't explain that the way I want to, so maybe I'll just stop trying.

Hi Website Mutoid,
I think I do understand what you tried to explain.

I remember on the previous forum there were a few discussions about the relationships between the characters.
Some fans expressed their opinion about the Blake-Jenna, Avon-Cally and I believe there was also Servalan-Avon.
However, the term "shipper" was not mentioned.
I remember, in my innocence I posted about my view on Cally, who is a very interesting character that sadly was not explored enough and her parts in the stories are not developed enough in my opinion.
And now, suddenly I understand why I didn't get any reply as the others must have been used to "shipper's reactions".

Now I think I can say I'm not at all a "shipper", but I respect all who are, just because it proves how good the drama of the show is; after all it is the purpose of a play to evoke empathy and emotions to keep characters and their events in your mind for as long as possible, isn't it?
The "canonical evidences " then can lead to fantasy.
I think it depends on what you do with it and how fanatic you expose your ideas.
I am able to enjoy reading a well written story, for instance, about Avon and Cally ( like yours!), but then, you have to forgive me, I will think "that is your Cally and your Avon, not the original, not mine". ( if you'd called them Cook and Zopie it was a good story too)

Now it is my turn to say "I hope I explained myself well". Please keep in mind that I am a non native English speaker and that I watched Blake's 7 in 1979 (S1) and 1982 (S2) already being an adult, which should make you realise that the "canonical evidences" can have other meanings when seen through adult eyes.

Shipping's been around for a while, even if the name hasn't. I just read something the other day about Little Women's Louisa May Allcott stating that Jo and Laurie would never get together, no matter how many fans demanded it!

It's a relief to see that "shipping" wasn't known by every fan!
It seems to me that it was invented to kind of soothe the emotions of arguing fans and to organise their comments?
If so, then I keep away far from it as I never ever would like to say something negative or get involved in a fight.
Please enlighten me if I'm incorrect?

It's a relief to see that "shipping" wasn't known by every fan!
It seems to me that it was invented to kind of soothe the emotions of arguing fans and to organise their comments?
If so, then I keep away far from it as I never ever would like to say something negative or get involved in a fight.
Please enlighten me if I'm incorrect?

Well, it makes it easier to find other fans with the same opinion so you can discuss the ship you're into, so it probably helps to avoid arguments.

It's a relief to see that "shipping" wasn't known by every fan!
It seems to me that it was invented to kind of soothe the emotions of arguing fans and to organise their comments?
If so, then I keep away far from it as I never ever would like to say something negative or get involved in a fight.
Please enlighten me if I'm incorrect?

Well, it makes it easier to find other fans with the same opinion so you can discuss the ship you're into, so it probably helps to avoid arguments.

It's used extensively as a shorthand in fanfic so you can avoid ships/pairings you don't like - there's almost an entire second language of terms and abbreviations

I hope no one sees my comment as a slight about anyone who didn't know the term or wanted clarification or expansion of what the definition of a shipper was. I just thought it was so mainstream in so many fandoms, that it was as common a term as say canonicity. I suppose it is an advantage at times to live in an area frequented by so many different types of fans.

The original B7 meeting group had a heavily female presence with a slight obsession in a certain leather clad rebel. (with occasional mention of other characters ) I never did witness any arguments on 'ship' issues possibly because we knew any disagreements could be solved by Trial by Deathmatch Doom... hehe!